What the Brits were doing on Memorial Day

Matt Cardy/Getty Images BROCKWORTH, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 26: Contestants in the men’s race chase a Double Gloucester Cheese down the steep gradient of Cooper’s Hill in pouring rain during the annual Bank Holiday tradition of cheese-rolling on May 26, 2008 in Brockworth in Gloucestershire, England. Thousands of spectators gather to watch contestants from around ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
594859_080528_cheese2.jpg
594859_080528_cheese2.jpg

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

BROCKWORTH, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 26: Contestants in the men’s race chase a Double Gloucester Cheese down the steep gradient of Cooper’s Hill in pouring rain during the annual Bank Holiday tradition of cheese-rolling on May 26, 2008 in Brockworth in Gloucestershire, England. Thousands of spectators gather to watch contestants from around the world tumbling down the 200m slope – which has a 1:1 gradient in parts – in a series of races, said to date back hundreds of years, with the winner of each receiving a cheese. Injuries are commonplace, even forcing cancellation of the event in the past.

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

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